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Howdy, y’all! It’s time for another To Be Read Shelf Clean-Up, the November edition. I wonder if this will ever help me reduce the number of books on my TBR? Who am I kidding? I’m a reader; of course, I will forever be adding books. In October, I had 463 books. Today, I have 512. YIKES! I didn’t realize that I’d added that many books in just over a month.

To Be Read Shelf Clean-Up: November 2021

I saw this Goodreads TBR Clean-Up post at Megan’s Book Stacks and just knew I had to give it a try. Megan found it over at MegaBunnyReads. Click the titles to go to the Goodreads page for the book, and the image will take you to Amazon.

How It Works:

  • Go to your Goodreads want-to-read shelf.
  • Ask Siri, or use a random number generator, to pick a number between 1 and however many books are on the list.
  • Go to that book and look at it and the 4 after it, for a total of 5.
  • Read the synopses of the books.
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?
  • Discuss here.

Books To Be Read: 512

Starting Number: 458; looks like I’m going through the books I added in October 2021

Shelf Sorted: Date Added

Book 1: Knot the Usual Suspects by Molly MacRae

Synopisis from Goodreads

It’s time for Handmade Blue Plum, an annual arts and crafts fair, and Kath and her knitting group TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Fiber) plan to kick off the festivities with a yarn bombing. But they’re not the only ones needling Blue Plum. Bagpiper and former resident Hugh McPhee had just returned after a long absence, yet his reception is anything but cozy. The morning after his arrival, he’s found dead in full piper’s regalia.

Although shaken, Kath and her knitting group go forward with their yarn installation—only to hit a deadly snag. Now, with the help of Geneva, the ghost who haunts her shop, Kath and TGIF need to unravel the mystery before someone else gets kilt!

Thoughts

The small-town setting. A book with a pun for a title. It’s a cozy mystery. How can I even think about not keeping it around?

KEEP

Book 2: Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein

Synopsis from Goodreads

The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams: After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Her best friend and teammate, Jasmine, became an Olympic champion, then committed the ultimate betrayal by marrying their emotionally abusive coach, Dimitri.

Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Despite her misgivings and worries about the memories, it will evoke, Avery agrees. Back in the gym, she’s surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery and her old friend Jasmine.

Thoughts

I love reading sports books. And this seems different because the athlete in question is a female, where traditionally, it’s the male lead who is the athlete. Another reason I picked this book up is because while it’s listed as a romance, it doesn’t feel like the romance will be the main focus of the book.

KEEP

Book 3: Christmas at Hembry Castle by Meredith Allard

Synopsis from Goodreads

You are cordially invited to Christmas at Hembry Castle. An unlikely earl struggles with his new place. A young couple’s love is tested. What is a meddling ghost to do? In the tradition of A Christmas Carol, travel back to Victorian England and enjoy a lighthearted, festive holiday celebration.

Thoughts

I’m not sure where I came across this book, or more accurately, this novella. But I do know that the mention of A Christmas Carol piqued my curiosity.

KEEP

Book 4: Tristan Strong Puches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Synopsis from Goodreads

Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. 

But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it–is that a doll?–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. 

Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster, Anansi always comes at a price. 

Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

Thoughts

I am trying to read at least the first books in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. Imagine my surprise at finding this one at the thrift store in mint condition!

KEEP

Book 5: The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

Synopsis from Goodreads

And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn’t hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England, he returned to the land of his youth and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of smiling village where the movies from his youth were set. Instead, he drove through a series of horrific burgs, which he renamed Smellville, Fartville, Coleslaw, Coma, and Doldrum. At best, his search led him to Anywhere, USA, a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels, and hamburger outlets populated by obese and slow-witted hicks with a partiality for synthetic fibres. He discovered a continent that was doubly lost: lost to itself because he found it blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes, and television; lost to him because he had become a foreigner in his own country.

Thoughts

Again, I’m not sure where I first heard of this book. While it’s a bit older than I realized (first published in 1989), I think some stories are still relevant today.

KEEP

Wrap-Up

It doesn’t look as though my To Be Read Shelf Clean-Up for November 2021 wasn’t successful. Do I feel guilty? Nope! I will try to do another one soon, and maybe I’ll be more successful.

To Be Read Shelf Clean-Up: November 2021

Looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups.

One thought on “To Be Read Shelf Clean-Up: November 2021

  1. I guess it would be hard to find reasons to remove books from the TBR that you just added last month. I know that I usually need at least a couple of months to change my mind about wanting to read a book.

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